~~~Stanley~~~
One of the major differences between the city and this more rural area was the snow. Stanley had almost forgotten it was supposed to be winter time... between most of the streets in the city having been cleared, and his F-grade body barely noticing the cold, it had faded from his attention.
Snow didn't quite blanket everything. Most treetops were clear, but it still covered a large swath of the ground. The lack of cars or plows on the roads, plus the clear weather, meant much of it was still pristine white. None of that muddy snow here... which also meant the glare was back, though that too was less than it had been. It was still annoying, but didn't make his eyes hurt anymore.
He started his hunt by backtracking to a warehouse they'd passed on the way. He'd suspected it as a lair from the sheer number of monsters in the area and was proven right when he got back. They had feathered wings, but ran on four feet. Almost like a griffon, except it didn't have an eagle head. Just something hairy with large teeth. So maybe a chimera?
They died well enough to the spear, and a few extras to the knife when they came charging back to defend the lair from further away. The monsters were definitely more free-roaming out here, not huddled up inside their dens.
Pleasantly enough, they didn't have any annoying magic. Oh, they had something, but Stanley never saw it directly. They were just a bad matchup against him. So, perfect.
The massive open space inside the building was a nice change from the apartment and office spaces he'd been hunting in lately, though there was some kind of huge tree growing in the center. The queen lived at the top, near the ceiling, and he left her alive when she surrendered. Clever girl.
Stanley also tested his Psionic Charge ability against one beast outside. Not directly, but he charged close enough past that he should have clipped it. His new skill didn't let him hit, instead pushing the monster away with damaging force as he passed.
That was nice, though it wasn't free. Less than punching through a lair wall though, and that just left finding some magic to test the skill against. He was really hoping it would let him ignore spells, or at least dodge them.
Premonition was looking better and better thanks to the new skill, and now that he had something to help him get out of the way. That combined with thinking faster meant he had more options than ever to avoid attacks. He just needed to stay aware of his surroundings so he'd be ready to dodge in the right direction when it came time to.
Despite the testing and thoughts of tactical power use, Stanley still had time to ruminate over the past. It was stupid and a waste of energy, usually. There was something to be said about learning from his mistakes... if it didn't come with having to remember them... but that wasn't what occupied his thoughts today. At least, not entirely.
It was what Nate had said... about going back to where it started.
Stanley kept seeing the look on Nate's face. The bleakness... hopelessness... had it all been an act? He just couldn't understand why. What was the point of making something like that up? Especially when it didn't even come with actual directions. Just a vague warning to go... somewhere... sometime...
The most likely conclusion Stanley had arrived at was... the truck stop. It was the only thing that made sense. Unless Nate's whole prophecy deal was about some far distant future... in which case, what was the point? Fucking prophecy bullshit, always gotta be something stupidly vague...
Except Nate wasn't even supposed to be a prophet. What the hell does a martial artist have to do with predicting the future? Was he like some kind of monk? Didn't monks do some spiritual crap?
Still, Stanley kept thinking about the truck stop. He hadn't been back since that first night... and the trailers he'd carried those people in made him nostalgic for the good old days... that was the only reason he went looking for it after hours of hunting and as the sun crept lower toward the horizon.
It had nothing to do with Nate's stupid feelings.
He knew where the truck stop was. In a freeway and exit number sort of way. Something that didn't translate as well to an apocalyptic flying through the sky without road signs and maps reality that he was currently living in.
The bigger freeways still stood out from the sky, but satellite view on his phone wasn't the same thing as what he had now. Of course, narrowing it down wasn't too hard. He knew it was north of the city and not too far from the coast. Those were easy enough landmarks to follow, and Nate's route had left him relatively close... Was that on purpose?
Stanley ground his teeth. Definitely getting telepathy next.
His search took him back into the undead territory, and Stanley was torn between flying high or staying low and skulking his way through town.
The decision was made for him when a shit ton of... something burst into the sky ahead. They looked like birds... but who knew? Too many weird creatures existed now. Just because something was flying didn't mean shit about what it was anymore.
It was the sheer 'blot out the sky' number of them that really gave him pause. A dark cloud rising that literally left a swath of shadow in its wake...
So Stanley pulled up extra dirt and went to say hello. Fuck birds!
They were zombie birds. He saw that much before closing up the dirt shell. They also likely used magic to fly, since plenty of them were lacking feathers and sometimes even skin on their wings. Magic bull...
Though, to be fair, Stanley also flew without wings...
Is that where all those birds went? The skies had been relatively peaceful for a while, aside from that owl fucker...
Stanley had a bad feeling as he tried to remember how much of the corpse he'd destroyed. Had he gotten the head? They'd eaten a lot... but if the head was still there... I really hope they didn't resurrect that thing. Maybe it wouldn't have its magic if so...
He killed the first one with a spear through the head and the swarm all surged his way. At least what little he could see of it. Still, that was fine. Especially when he saw a core fall from the dead zombie.
Yes, come to me and bring your cores.
Stanley didn't remain in the sky. He wanted more weapons at hand. Sure, he could use the dead birds as weapons, but he also wanted their cores, and it looked like they would follow him with very little effort on his part. Perfect.
So he led them back to the ground and started the ball rolling. Or, in this case, spinning in place. Same thing.
The only problem he'd seen from fighting zombies, particularly if trying to get cores, was that he had to hit them in the head. Birds had tiny heads... but they were also stupid. Zombies and birds both.
Stanley floated in the dark and smiled as they threw themselves into his meat grinder of a dirt ball. He even opened a hole in the bottom and started collecting the cores when he realized how stupid these birds truly were.
Who needed core gatherers when... Oh.
He'd seen the red eyes of the birds, but still didn't know if that was special beyond dropping cores. That talking zombie had red eyes at the end...
Maybe the zombies were leveling up? A swarm like this one could wipe out lairs without trouble...
That was when a human zombie came running in and tried to jump through Stanley's window. Rude.
He had to close the window when a horde of zombies followed the first. Then he dropped lower and pulled up even more... everything. Concrete, cars, light poles, and signposts. All of it went into orbit with the dirt and rocks, and Stanley did some grinding.
You better not be eating my cores out there... It was a lot of zombies. A true horde like you'd see in a movie... the kind that would wipe out all the humans...
Nate... Stanley had only found this horde because he was following Nate's stupid prophecy bullshit... Did you know about this?
It definitely seemed like enough shit to fuck up Nate's little gathering. Had this been the plan all along? Send Stanley up here to thin the herd? Who cares if he survives as long as he kills enough of them? Hell, killing his teleporter might have just been a calculated cost if he knew this was coming...
He suckered me. Stanley had bought into the lie from that little display... and followed Nate's intuition up here. He'd hoped maybe there was a super good skill or something else that would turn the tide... but maybe it was just his life that would turn the tide away from Nate.
Fuck you. I'm not dying here. Nate obviously didn't know Stanley's power if he thought this could stop him.
As if in response to his thoughts, Stanley's premonition lit up his body with sickening pain.
He charged away in the fraction of a second warning the skill gave, straight through the side of his blender ball.
It was possible that he could expand the skill enough to charge with the ball of dirt... but he didn't think so, and this wasn't the time to test it.
None of it impeded him, at least. A bunch of loose dirt and rocks weren't enough to even slow his charge, and he burst back into daylight in time to see his ball of dirt turn into a ball of green fire...
Then his premonition lit up again, and it wasn't hard to guess why when he was sitting in the open air surrounded by a million zombie birds...
Stanley charged through them while dragging up a new shield... and had to abandon the effort before it finished forming when it exploded like the last one.
This time, he saw which direction the green fire had come from and charged through the swarming birds to find its source.
He had to keep charging almost constantly to avoid the birds, but it worked. Hell, it did more than work. It was fantastic. None of the birds were powerful enough to survive getting in his way, and it was easier than directly pushing them away.
Stanley had to change his trajectory a few times on his way through the swarm to dodge more green fire, but he eventually burst out into the open sky.
The sea of zombies spread out below him undulated and surged upward in pursuit, like an ocean wave reaching for the sky... He only spared it a glance. His focus inexorably drawn to the figure flying high above.
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A dark cloak hid much of its body, but twin points of blazing red shone from under the cowl. That was more than enough to identify the creature, even without seeing its skeletal hands weaving green fire into existence. Four skeletal hands.
Then Stanley's spear arrived. It struck an encircling globe of shining green light that appeared around the monster... then blasted right through it. The spear didn't even slow as it continued on through the monster's face with a sonic boom that obliterated the upper half of its body and its stupid fucking cloak.
Stanley charged sideways to avoid the spell that came on despite the monster losing its head... and the red eyes reappeared in a grinning alien skull of bleached white bone.
It was another one of... Them.
Stanley didn't hesitate, and his spear was spinning when it boomeranged back into the skeleton. He ignored the head and went straight for the arms, chopping them and its entire torso into splinters faster than they could regenerate... before they could cast more magic. His knife went for the head.
You think I didn't learn from the last one of you fucks!?
Unfortunately, and despite him literally cutting the thing in half, its lower body didn't fall away. Magic bullshit, no doubt.
Still, no more green fire came after him... but the birds did. The skeleton didn't help things when it flew into the oncoming swarm at speed.
Stanley kept the spear on it and charged through the swarm in pursuit, all the way down to the ground... where the rest of the zombies joined in.
It made no difference, other than draining his energy too fast... so Stanley had a snack while he chased after his prize.
He was missing out on a lot of cores from the zombies left in his wake... but he wasn't about to let the big one go. It was an E-grade. If it dropped a skill when he killed it... that might be all he needed to reach the next grade! All he needed to keep Caffeine safe...
It was apparently a caster, unlike the zombie, and Stanley had just gained a skill that let him avoid its magic. In other words, it was a perfect target for him. He only had to wear down its regeneration... though this time without Caffeine.
Stanley rested one hand on the still sleeping pug. I can do this. Rest up, Caff. I'll have a nice bone for you to chew on when you wake up... Though maybe not from this creature. Its bones were probably rotten.
Premonition flared while he was in mid charge, and Stanley found out he could cancel the skill and reactivate it instantly to change direction.
A storm of magic exploded in the spot he would have been, and the blast cleared enough birds for Stanley to see the source.
Humans. Why is it always humans? Over a dozen of them, and all between Stanley and the still fleeing skeleton, all of them already either sprinting at him or casting more spells his way.
They looked human, but a few had glowing red eyes... Traitors. Stanley redirected his knife and charged repeatedly through the barrage of magic while killing the charging humans.
Four died instantly, or at least they fell down after the knife went through their skulls. The fifth human slapped the knife out of the air and drew Stanley's attention instantly with the strength of the hit.
Another E-grade… and not a caster. Shit.
He was fast, too—like the E-grade zombie had been—and he shot toward Stanley like a bullet.
Psionic Charge was faster.
Stanley blurred past and kept chasing the skeleton while his knife went for the human.
Apparently this was where the skeleton had been trying to reach, because it circled around to stay close to the others. Stanley was fine with that, since none of the humans could touch him. His new skill was just what he'd needed.
If he'd only killed the teleporter when they first met... Samantha would be alive... Caffeine would never have gotten hurt. All because he'd been too weak... Not this time!
The E-grade traitor couldn't fly, and he didn't have that bullshit jumping off the air skill either. What he did have was a shit ton of birds filling the air that he could jump off of. While it gave him some air mobility, it was nothing compared to the skeleton's flight or Stanley's charge. Plus, he was killing the birds every time he jumped off them.
Stanley was untouchable... and would remain so until his food ran out.
The skeleton winked at him... one red eye going dark and then lighting back up, and Stanley felt... something.
It made him think of a spell as it shot towards him, and he instantly double tapped Psionic Charge to change direction ninety degrees. This wasn't like the previous spells... he could feel... something strange. Something dangerous.
The spell was slower than the last one... slow enough that he could feel it coming on through his mental touch with a disturbing sensation... and it followed him without hesitation when he turned.
Stanley blasted himself through a nearby lair doorway, pushing his concentration to the limits as he juked through hallways and crashed back outside through a window on the far side of the building. All in less than a second.
The spell ignored the building entirely, passing straight through the walls and slamming into him just outside the window...
Resisted: [Soul Spike]
What the fuck!? It... didn't even hurt. Probably because he'd resisted it... but he still felt... something... off. Caffeine must have felt something as well, because he twitched in his sleep, and Stanley thought he heard a growl.
Then the skeleton flew right past the traitor, and the human caught the spear mid spin. He raised it up in two hands... as if to break it over his knee...
NO! Stanley didn't let it go, holding onto the spear for dear life as he struggled to pull it free. He couldn't let them destroy Samantha's...
A knee slammed into the spear, and the wood flared with red light... but didn't break. Instead, the traitorous human screamed in a wonderful sound of agony and dropped the spear.
Stanley didn't pull it away immediately, instead going for the kill while... but the bastard dodged back, deflecting the spear at the same time another spell flew Stanley’s way. The damn skeleton was back at it again...
It was also still winking at him... each wink preceding another of those notifications.
Resisted: [Soul Spike]
Each time, Stanley resisted. Each time, Caffeine stirred. And every time it felt slightly more off...
He got the spear back on the skeleton, since it seemed to really hate it, and even left the stupid jumping human alone to send the knife as well.
The skeleton finally gave up on flying around and stopped beside the human E-grade. There, he unleashed a steady stream of magic while the damn traitor blocked the spear from interrupting. He never grabbed it again, but he was fast enough to deflect almost every hit.
Stanley sent the knife toward the back of the traitor’s head, and the skeleton used one of its four hands to enclose the blade in a ball of green light that burned his mind. It kept casting with the other three hands…
It was enough to enrage Stanley. But he was already angry, and it still wasn't enough... More of those weird soul attacks kept coming, and Stanley started running out of food as charged nonstop around the battlefield...
He hated to do it. Absolutely loathed the idea of letting these fucking things escape when he was so close...
Partially Resisted: [Soul Spike]
Debuff: [Soul Strain]
It hurt, and Caffeine kicked as he growled loudly enough to hear over the battle. Magic was still bullshit. Apparently, it could wear down his resistance!?
Stanley fled the fight.
Charge after charge took him entire blocks as the city blurred past around him. He flew clear of the birds and then blurred repeatedly down the empty streets, shoveling the last of the meat down his throat as the city flew away and his energy reserves went with it.
Stanley finally ducked into a lair, cleanly killing the monsters and taking them into an empty room, and then he waited. He barely even breathed as he ripped apart the monsters and threw the raw meat into his stomach while waiting for his energy to recharge. Meanwhile, he pushed his mental touch wide, trying to feel out any pursuit that might have kept up with him.
He didn't think it was likely. That had been the fastest he'd ever traveled... Nothing stood out and everything in range was just random lair monsters that didn't even know he was there. He checked the debuff while he ate.
[Soul Strain](??:??:??)
Your Twin-Soul has withstood numerous attacks, but using your soul repeatedly in this manner has strained it and decreased its resistance to further soul attacks.
-??% Soul Resistance
That was... information. Not a lot. In fact, it was nothing he didn't already know! What the hell was the notification for if it wouldn't tell him shit!?
Stanley waited in the lair as long as he dared while not only gorging on the meat but stuffing his bag with as much as he could. That mad dash was very energy intensive...
So he used it slightly differently when it was time to move on.
After delaying as long as possible, Stanley pushed more power into the skill without unleashing it... aimed it very deliberately, and... charged!
The world moved faster than his eyes could track, and he was abruptly in the building across the street. Hopefully faster than any watching undead could track as well... A few taps and nudges against the monsters inside let him lure them out of his path as he silently navigated through the building toward the next opening. There, he repeated the tactic.
Blocks fell behind him more slowly now, but fast enough, or at least that was his hope. He didn't care which direction he was going, so long as he could get further away. It was tempting to go back... very tempting. Those E-grade cores were calling his name... Two of them! Which was the problem.
He had a better plan now. Get far enough away but still close enough to watch that flock of zombie birds, and then wait for Caffeine to wake up.
Stanley hated himself for the plan... for asking Caffeine to fight more of those monsters... but he needed the help. I'm too weak, Caff. I need you to help me... again.
Not yet though. Caffeine had earned his rest. More than earned it. Stanley could swallow his rage and hide in the dark if that's what Caffeine needed.
The next spell gave no warning as he was crossing another street, which made sense when he charged straight through the green explosion without even feeling it. His charge quit early, but it held up against the magic, and there, in the sky behind him, was the giant skeleton... How did they fucking find me!?
Stanley attacked with every bit of rage he could muster, shattering and shredding the constantly regenerating skeleton... until a familiar human monster came bounding in to join the fight.
It was easier without the birds and other zombies, but not enough. Stanley flew high, out of reach of the landlocked E-grade, but the skeleton didn’t follow and kept hitting him with the soul attack while the traitor defended it...
Partially Resisted: [Soul Spike]
It hurt worse every time, and from the way Caffeine growled and kicked, he feared it was hurting him too. So Stanley fled again.
He repeated the earlier tactic, pushing as far as he could through the city until his power reached as low as he dared to let it go. Multiple skills leveled in the charging rush as he pushed every skill to its limits. Then hid.
Stanley ate, but didn't linger as long before charging further. He didn't want to slow down too much, but also didn't want to be too drained if he ended up stuck and fighting for their lives...
Accelerated Thought reached level ten as he repeated the bursts of speed over and over, and he accepted the prompt to advance without bothering to read the updated skill. He didn't need to; the difference was obvious. It had doubled.
Time moved slower around him while the world never stopped moving... it got darker though, as time marched inevitably onward. But the fading light wasn't a big deal, as he was using mostly mental touch to keep track of his surroundings, anyway.
I'll get us out of here, Caff. The brilliant red sky of a glorious and awe-inspiring sunset felt mocking as he swore to protect the pug. Felt ominous...
Partially Resisted: [Soul Spike]
It wasn't fair... Stanley reversed course and shot past the skeleton in a blur. Then again. Again! Looking for... There!
He unleashed everything he had on the human E-grade, every scrap of rage that filled him, and dragged the fucker's hands to a halt as the spear came on like a missile.
Stanley screamed while his head burned, and then the fucking traitor's head exploded. Fuck y...
It grew right back.
That's just not fair… Why did they all get to be immortal?
Stanley charged into the sky. There was only one thing left to do. Something he should have done earlier. Lead these monsters to Nate.
Nate sent him out here, set him up to die, and it wouldn’t even matter because Stanley couldn’t kill even one of them… Or was that the point all along? What if Nate was a traitor? He hadn’t helped with the zombie…
Stanley never got the chance to finish his thought.
Partially Resisted: [Soul Spike]
Debuff: [Soul Laceration]
He felt... something terrible. Pain that twisted reality into incomprehensible nonsense. All he knew was Caffeine howling... a crushing impact... then his entire world went blessedly dark and quiet.
It didn't stop hurting, though... Why didn't it stop hurting?